


You Are My Favorite "What If"

by talulebell



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Jocks and Punks, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Character, Slow Build, Smoking, Stereotypes, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-01 07:45:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6509143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talulebell/pseuds/talulebell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reiner is a jock, Bertholdt is a punk, therefore, they should never cross. It's an unspoken rule.</p><p>But, they also say not to judge a book by its cover.</p><p>*11/23/17- I am sorry to say that this story will not be continued, but what is uploaded so far will remain for anyone that stumbles across it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I guess we're partners...

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! 
> 
> One day, my friend and I came up with this AU, so we started to write it. By that, I mean two people are writing this story. I write Bertholdt's parts while he writes Reiner's, and it works quite well. We do have different writing styles, but you'll know who's writing. We hope neither of them or any other characters are too OOC!
> 
> *Notice*- We do not want to offend anyone with how we write punks and jocks! That is not our intention! This is based off of stereotypes that you would see, such as how people view punks as people who only wear black, listen to heavy metal, etc. A good part of this fic, as said in the summary, is about how a book shouldn't be judged by its cover, which will show as the fic progresses. Once again, we do not mean to offend anyone with this fic!
> 
> We hope you enjoy!

It’s been two weeks. Two damn weeks. Luckily, they were his last first two weeks of high school.

No one was happy to hear that they already had to do a project, but it took off some stress since it was with a partner. Sadly, their teacher already picked partners, which was never good for Bertholdt.  
It wasn’t that he didn’t get along with anyone, he bet he would if anyone talked to him or if he wasn’t so shy, but it was that he always had the luck of being with “the best partner ever”. They planned out what they were going to do together, Bertholdt did a good amount of the research while his partner did some, and the rest was done by Bertholdt. For their punishment, if they had to present, which they usually did, he rarely said anything, and it was fun to watch how clueless his partner was about their project. 

He drew random lines on his History folder, listening as Pixis told them about the project and going over the rubric, which shouldn’t even need that much explaining. It wasn't until Pixis said something about already chosen partners that made him snap his head up and listen, hoping that he someone that he somewhat knew.  
Of course, no. 

He was put with the person who was the complete opposite of him. Bertholdt mostly wore black or some kind of band t-shirt, his partner wore his football jersey during days of home games or some kind of Nike exercise shirt. Bertholdt wore skinny jeans, either blue or black, and his partner wore gym shorts, even during the winter. Bertholdt wore Converse or some pair of boots, his partner wore those stupid Nike sandals or $130 shoes, with his athletic socks rolled up as far as they can go. Bertholdt was more of an alternative or rock type of person, sometimes indie or modern pop if he was feeling adventurous, but his partner listened to all the newest stuff and some guy who talked about how much sex he was going to have or how high he was. Bertholdt liked to remain quiet, only really talking around people he was comfortable with, and his partner was someone who should learn what shut up means.

That’s right, it was the one and only Reiner Braun.

 

Reiner barely heard his name over his friend who was talking in the desk next to his. The blond looked up from his phone to see what was happening. Apparently Pixis had been listing off partners for that assignment thingy. The clueless blond looked around the room wondering who he got partnered up with, not really having a preference on who. Reiner generally liked most people because he was the outgoing type who made friends right off the bat. Once Pixis gave the command to start working, Reiner just assumed that whoever he was paired up with was going to come to him. But they didn’t.

After a minute or so Reiner noticed that his partner hadn’t shown up. Maybe they didn’t hear either. The athletically dressed teen stood up and scanned the room. Who the hell was he partnered up with? Reiner’s amber eyes met the gaze of two timid emerald ones. Bertholdt? The blond thought. Am I really partnered up with the punk kid? Reiner decided to speak up. 

“Uh, Are you my partner? Reiner asked.

The dark haired teen nodded his head slightly after a few seconds of hesitation. Reiner immediately felt the awkward. This project was going to suck. He has never talked to Bertholdt. All Reiner knew was that Bertholdt listened to rock music, and always wore black and it's not that Reiner hates him, it's just that he feels like they wouldn’t be two that would get along. Reiner sighed and made his way over to the others desk and sat down behind him.

How bad could this project be? 

 

“At least he approached me.” Bertholdt thought, pretending to look over the rubric. This really wasn’t going to be that fun, and he wanted nothing to do with this project anymore.

It wasn’t that he hated Reiner, he didn’t really hate anyone, but he didn’t want to deal with his boisterous laugh and constant jokes. Bertholdt had no idea how much work Reiner would put into this, but he didn’t want him to procrastinate like other jocks would. Of course, he wanted help with the research, but if it was just him working on it, he supposed it would be fine. He was used to that anyway.

The brunet ran his tongue over his teeth, right in front of the small piercing in the middle of his tongue. Reiner took a seat next to him, looking sort of uneasy. Bertholdt didn’t blame him because he was feeling the exact same way as well, but refused to let it show despite the telling beads of sweat prickling at his hairline. He placed the rubric down and finally looked at his partner.

 

The blond was looking at his own rubric, actually reading over the instructions because he felt too awkward to look at the other. ‘Create a presentation about a famous war throughout history and its impact on socioeconomics for both the countries involved and in the rest of the world. Project can be a PowerPoint, paper, on poster board, or any other method you see fit.’

Reiner felt the other's gaze on him now. The blond turned his attention to the other by meeting eye contact with the darker dressed teen. 

“Uh… So…” The blond says putting the paper down. “Looks like you’re stuck with me!”

The blond mentally slaps himself. Why did he say that! Out of all the small talk he could have made he says that. He really hopes that Bertholdt will be reluctant that the blond is even trying to create some kind of conversation. 

 

Bertholdt raised an eyebrow at the other. Yes, he was stuck with him, but he was actually surprised that Reiner said something. 

“This is going to be one long project.” Bertholdt thought. He wanted nothing more than to come up with some topic, discuss what they should work on, and then present it when it’s done. He wouldn’t have to deal with the awkwardness anymore and would probably never speak to Reiner again.

The brunet made his lips into a straight line. “Do you have any ideas in mind?” he asked, leaning back in his seat, wanting to get a good start on it. The earlier that’s done the better.

 

Reiner bites his lip slightly. This project is going to be the worst. Reiner knows he can’t just screw around and do nothing, because he is not sure how well Bertholdt does with projects. Plus Reiner knows nothing about whatever they just learned. Well, Bertholdt seems like the kind of guy to know what he's doing right? The blond quickly scans the other. Maybe he's not.

“Uh… Well, what do you think we should do?” Reiner says trying to make it seem like he wants Bertholdt’s opinion first. If there is one thing Reiner is good at, it's making it seem like he knows what he is doing. 

 

“How about something related to how World War 1 started?” Bertholdt said, tapping his pencil against his desk. He might as well pick something simple and what could not be more simple than talking about how a war started? You look in the book, take some notes, look it up on the Internet, take some notes, listen in class, and once again, take some notes. It’s so basic.

To him, Reiner didn’t seem that comfortable. He seemed like he wanted to be at least five desks away at the minimum. He never did look up at Bertholdt, which was fine for him, since he was so shy and had only looked up at him once. They were total opposites, so for them to actually talk by force made things a whole lot more awkward.

The punk swallowed the lump in his throat as he waited for the jock to answer, causing him anxiety since it felt like he asked the question a couple minutes ago.

 

The blond looks up at the other making eye contact. World War 1… Oh yeah… That's what we are learning about. The blond thinks to himself. This is all Pixis’s fault. If he had been more interesting, he could actually make this interesting and contribute. Now I look stupid. Just say something casual about the war.

“Isn't that the war where everyone had sex after?” Reiner replies. 

Fuck. 

 

Did...did he just say what he thought he just said? Did he really ask if that was the war where everyone had sex afterwards?!

Bertholdt kept his eye contact with the blond, a very awkward one at that, and raised an eyebrow. He really couldn’t believe that he just said that. The brunet blinked a few times and let out a silent sigh, opening his mouth to say something, and then closing it again. 

This is why he was glad he wasn’t a fuckboy because everything had to do with sex or sports to them. They ask girls for nudes if they say something as simple as a hello to them, wear shorts even if there’s a foot of snow with those stupid slides and high socks, 'ball was life' apparently, and they were just loud and obnoxious in general. It wasn’t a big surprise that Reiner would say something like that, since he was a total fuckboy, especially with his boisterous behavior, his style, being the captain of the varsity football team, and being a senior. He was like, the king of fuckboys in this school.

“Uh,” Bertholdt managed, looking down at his desk to get rid of their awkward eye contact, “no, no it’s not.” 

 

Reiner bites his tongue. He said something stupid and he was wrong. Well, he made it even more awkward. How worse can it get? Now the blond really feels like the darker haired teen hates him and at this rate, Reiner doesn’t see them being good friends. Or having any fun. "Guess I have to just suffer through this project." Reiner thought.

The blond teen sighs. He could have been paired up with Krista and had a little fun or something. He could have been with Connie or Eren, and he could have fooled around the whole class. But instead he's stuck with the punk kid who is quiet and only wants to do work.

“Oh sorry,” Reiner forces out a chuckle “I must have been thinking about something else.”

 

The brunet hummed and packed up his stuff seconds before the bell rang. He shot out of his seat and was one of the first to get out of the room. ‘Kill me now’ he thought on the way to his locker. 

With a study hall later on that day, he already started to get a start on the stupid project. Might as well get his stuff done and out of the way. If he really wanted to, he could finish it in like three sittings, but he shouldn’t go too ahead of Reiner. 

 

Reiner was slower to packing up his stuff. He felt it was kinda rude how the other just got up and walked away. He didn’t even say any last words about the project. Bertholdt didn’t have to avoid him like that.

As the blond was thinking a hand hit the back of his back. Reiner turned around to see his friend Franz. “I see you’re stuck with the stupid punk kid.” The other teen said with a smirk on his face.

“Yeah… So much fun!” Reiner said sarcastically. The blond envied Franz for being paired up with Reiner’s other friend Thomas. They were definitely going to have a more enjoyable time. 

Reiner grabbed up the rest of his stuff and headed out to the crowded hallways. Walking down them wasn’t too hard considering his size. All the lower classmen just stepped aside to let him through. Reiner almost felt bad for them, shying away for him to pass. Normally it would've given some of his friends a bit of a power-trip, but to him it just made him feel a bit like he was one of the jocks from those 80s movies that robbed some poor kids of their lunch money. Finding his locker, he shoved all this junk in and started to socialize with the pigtailed girl next to him.

“Hey Mina!” Reiner says loudly over the noise of the hallway. 

“Hey loser!” The pigtailed girl replied. Mina was Reiner’s best girlfriend. Well.. friend that is a girl. Mina was dating Eren so she usually tagged along with the other boys. She fit in with the other guys on the team easily and they considered her one of their own from the start.

“You ready for some fun in the gym?" Mina said excitedly.

“Hell yeah I am!”

One of the best things about being a senior was that you could choose all the classes you want. Which means a lot of weight training and 'advanced PE' for him. A lot better than worrying about some stupid project. 

The crowd in the hallway started to disperse slowly, leaving them able to talk at a normal volume. Reiner let out a deep breath while grabbing his bag of gym clothes. “I got paired up in Pixis’s class with some emo kid for a project.”

“Oh.” Mina paused for a moment to look up at him quizzically, “What kind of project?”

Reiner gave a small shrug. “Just some kind of project on wars. But as soon as we got into pairs, he really didn’t want to do anything with me. If he’s not gonna put at least a little effort into this, I’ll just have to ask for another partner or something.”

Mina gave a small click of her tongue, "Oh, come on, Reiner. I had to do a paper in English with that Armin kid, and he turned out to be kinda cool. He knows a lot about football actually--"

“Yeah, because he's Armin. He's always got his nose in some Stephen Hawking or Brian Greene book. He’ll probably be valedictorian and he probably doesn’t even have time for football.”

Armin was a Junior that hung around Eren at lunch like he was a lost pet. It always made Reiner and even some of the other players confused to see him reading sitting next to Eren while he was on his phone, as if they had been best friends for years. The former was apparently only at their school because they had more AP classes than any other high school in the county. At first, the team had always thought Armin was Eren’s homework slave until Mina told stories of Eren staying behind after school to a math tutoring program Armin was the main coordinator of. It wasn’t long before the two started to stick together and the blond tagged along on food runs after their home game wins.

“He doesn’t read while at your games.”

The comment snapped Reiner back into the conversation. “He actually watches?”

“Yeah! When I’m sitting with Sasha he’s on the second row in the student section. Kinda cute when he gets into it and starts yelling at the ref with that shy little voice,” Mina closed her locker and stood patiently for Reiner to get his things together. "The point is, you need to give your emo guy a chance. Okay? I bet he’s just shy if he won’t talk to you."

“Whatever.”

Mina smiles some and “Promise?”

“Promise.”

 

When the day was over, Bertholdt waited by the main doors of the high school until a little blonde came into his view. She made her way over to him and nodded her head. 

Annie has been Bertholdt’s best friend ever since they were little kids. They were both quiet and shared a lot of the same interests such as music, style, movies, books, and tons of other things. Ever since eighth grade, they have been known as the school punks, but it’s not like it really bothered them that much. Sure, they wore a lot of black, listened to a little harder music than most people preferred, and did anything related to art or music, but they definitely didn’t view themselves as the stereotypical punk. 

“One day closer to the fucking weekend.” Annie muttered once they got into Bertholdt’s car, pulling down the sun guard in front of her to look at her makeup in the mirror. 

“Thank god.” Bertholdt responded as he started the engine and drove off. 

“So,” Annie started as they sat in the after school traffic, “RED has a concert close to here in a couple months and I totally think that we should go.”

“I’m starting to think that the only thing you really do in class is look at concert ticket prices.”

“Eh, I got nothing better to do.” she said as she turned up the radio, which was in the middle of playing a heavy metal song.

If Bertholdt were to be honest, even if he did look like the person who listens to death metal, he honestly didn’t really care for it. He was fine with some metal, depending on who it was by, but he much rather preferred rock or alternative, such as RED. 

“C’mon, Bert, you’re a punk. You’re suppose to like this stuff.” Annie teased him when he turned it down slightly. She knew he didn’t care for it, but it was always fun to see his reaction to some of the stuff that played.

“Eh, not today, I guess.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Bertholdt.”

“I got paired with Reiner for a project.”

“Oh...fun.”

The rest of the ride was silent, Annie deciding that she wouldn’t push the subject any further. 

 

It was normal for Reiner to catch a ride with one of his friends since they were all in football so it was easier to carpool. Reiner got a ride from Eren this morning and made his way to his car after school. Reiner closed the car door shut. He slouched into the passenger seat and immediately turn the radio onto 93.1 as soon as he could. The blond turned up the radio so that the hip hop music filled Eren’s car. Reiner’s green eyed friend hopped in the driver's seat of his own car. He buckled in and sped away quickly screaming out the open window at some of his other boisterous friends. 

“Eren you’re going to get me killed.” Reiner says putting his seatbelt on. 

“Whatever… Where am I dropping you off.” Eren says turning on to the main street. 

“My house.” Reiner says bringing out his phone. 

The two drive home with the loud hip hop music playing.


	2. It's a date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Uh, maybe we could meet up at your house and work on this over the weekend…”
> 
> Reiner, Reiner Braun, just asked to come over to Bertholdt's house to work on a project?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter! This will probably be updated every Saturday or so since we have quite a bit of it written. 
> 
> Also, thank you to those who have commented! We are taking what you said to mind and are watching ourselves!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Two days later, when both Reiner and Bertholdt have history again, meaning that most of the day will be spent brainstorming on their project. Reiner approaches the punk again, who opening his notebook to a full page of notes.

“Thought I should get started. I had nothing else to do.” Bertholdt says as the blond stares at his paper in amazement. He turns to face the other, who had only brought over a piece of paper, the rubric, and his pencil, which had most of the eraser chewed off.

Reiner opens his mouth to say something, but the only thing that comes out is, “Uh, wow, you really got a good start on this.”

 

The blond is amazed. Bertholdt really went all out so far. This project should be super easy. Reiner thought looking over the others notes. For a punk, Reiner thought he wouldn’t try at this at all.

Aside from being happy about the other doing the work for him, he also felt a tad bit guilty. Reiner now felt that he should do at least some work.

The blond scratches the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get to any of the work.”

 

“It’s not like that really mattered. I just got a head start. I bet no one here has started.” Bertholdt replies, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest. He just can’t say the reason why he started was because he wants this project to be done and over it. Yes, he wasn’t really a fan of his partner, but he wasn’t going to try to be rude about it. The sooner it’s done, the better.

Since Reiner only brought over three things and couldn’t really do anything, Bertholdt pushes his textbook over to him so he could at least start.

 

Reiner looks at the textbook and takes it. Reiner honestly has no intention on doing this project. He really hoped he would able to take a free ride on this one, but he didn’t want to do that to Bertholdt. Even though he didn’t necessarily care for him all too much, he knows no one wants to do all the work.

“Uh thanks.” Reiner says opening the book lazily. “So good thing we have a head start then.”

 

Bertholdt nods and then stares down at his desk. He has enough info for now and he might as well just let Reiner do something, so he couldn’t talk to him about the project. If he was absolutely desperate, he could try to have some sort of conversation with him, but they’re total opposites. They literally have nothing in common. Why did fate put them together like this?

Bertholdt watches as the other scribbled down a couple things which he probably already had on his note sheet. “So, is there a certain program you want to use for this?” he asks him. It was about the project and he would have to know eventually.

 

Reiner looks up at the other. “Uh I prefer to use Google Docs I guess.” The blond watches the other nod then look back down into his lap.

The blond bites his lip. He really wants to make some kind of small talk with the other but he doesn’t know what to talk about. He doesn’t want to talk about the gross project.

“Do you have study hall to do this in?” Reiner asks Bertholdt.

 

“Yeah, that’s how I already have the notes,” Bertholdt tells him, redrawing over the lines on his folder that he made last class and adding some more shapes, “But do you want this to be in powerpoint form or something? Anything works for me. It’s up to you.”

 

“Powerpoints are easy, so let's do that.” Reiner says while he slowly turns the pages of his textbook. The blond looks up at Bertholdt. “Do we have to present this project?” 

 

Bertholdt hums in response. “Sadly.”

Presenting wasn’t the worst for Bertholdt, even though the idea of it gives him anxiety. Sure, he did present stuff, but with past project partners, he gave them most of the project to present since they never helped him. That was fine with him because that meant that all he had to do was stand there and nod while occasionally giving a comment.

 

Reiner blinks a few times. This presentation wouldn’t be good for Reiner. He is going to have to stand up there and look like an idiot because he knows nothing about the project. Let's just hope Bertholdt can take care of that. God damn I hate projects! Reiner frustratedly thinks.

“Oh well, Okay…” Reiner says back as he plays with the edges of his book pages. 

 

Bertholdt glances down at Reiner’s paper to see what he wrote. It was at least half a page, so that seems to be going well so far. As long as it isn’t complete bull shit or basic facts, then it was be fine.

“I just want this project to be done, I’m not going to lie.” he mumbles, tapping his pencil on the desk by its eraser.

 

“That makes both of us.” Reiner says sighing. Looks like Bertholdt is on the same page as himself. No one wants to do this project and it makes everyone unhappy. “Who cares about whatever happened in 1900 and why is has a significance on-" Reiner looks down at one of the project prompts, “gas prices in 1975. Like why do I care! All I care about is the big game I have coming up this Friday night. We are going to crush the Sina High School football team.”

Reiner looks at Bertholdt again. Maybe he’s excited for the game. The blond watches as Bertholdt keep his eyes down on his folder. Reiner notices that one of Bertholdt’s ears are pierced, and he wonders if he is wearing eyeliner. While he is observing the other, Bertholdt licks his lips revealing a piercing on his tongue.

“Whoa!” Reiner exclaims louder than he was expecting. 

 

The punk looks over the the blond’s direction at the sudden outburst of the other. His eyes almost seem to be shining, as if he’s looking at Bertholdt like he’s treasure. “Uh,” he says raising an eyebrow and feeling some other students stare on them, licking his lips again out of nervousness, “what?”

 

“I've never seen a tongue piercing before!” Reiner says quieting down a bit. Reiner wonders how that would feel in his mouth or if it hurt to get it pierced. Reiner now gives his full attention to Bertholdt as he waits for his response.

 

And there it was. The comment about the piercing.

It’s not like he really found it that annoying, well, sometimes it could be, but it really did take some by surprise when they would see it, especially after knowing him for a while. It was always entertaining to see kids react to it because it was probably the coolest thing they’ve ever seen. He’s had it since the end of sophomore year, deciding it would be easier to go with a piercing that he could hide. He originally wanted a septum or lip, which he’s been debating on doing lately, but a tongue piercing was also one that he wanted, so why not do that first? Other than that piercing, his ears were also pierced and gauged, but not by a lot. He wasn’t a fan of really big ones and it was either he was going to stay where he was or go up a little more.

“Ah, yeah,” he replies, sticking his tongue out slightly to give Reiner a better look at it, “sometimes I forget I have it.”

 

“Really! Wow, did it hurt when it got pierced?” Reiner asks. It was no surprise that Bertholdt had a tongue piercing. He looks like the kind of guy to have one. Reiner never thought of having a piercing, he just didn’t care for them. It's not like he looks for them when he is looking for cute boys or anything.

Reiner shakes his head to get the thoughts out. That's not something that blond wanted to think of right now. 

 

"It didn't hurt that bad, I guess. I don't really remember," he tells him, clicking his tongue, "I got it a little over a year ago."

Okay, they were getting off topic, but at least they were somewhat talking. Take Bertholdt's mind off the stress, that he already has even though school started two weeks ago, but it was nice. Most people don't even try to have some sort of conversation with him unless they have to.

 

Reiner smiles slightly. “Do you ever like… take it out?” Reiner was now kinda interested. It didn’t feel very awkward anymore, looks like they have found something to talk about. Thank god.

 

Bertholdt looks down in thought before shrugging. “I’ve only taken it out like two to three times for an extended period of time. I make sure to change it every once in awhile.” he tells him.

 

“Huh, cool.” Reiner says leaning back in his chair. “Well, we can’t talk about his piercings forever so let's see how long this lasts.” Reiner’s eyes drop to the notes in front of him. The notes sit there like a painful reminder of what they still have to accomplish. The blond still feels bad because he knows he won’t get shit done and he doesn’t want to over work Bertholdt. Maybe they can work together when they aren’t in school.

Reiner glances at the clock in the front of the dull classroom. They still have twenty minutes maybe they could plan something.

“Uh, So… About the project.” Reiner starts off.

 

Bertholdt glances at him and starts to play with a loose string on the end of his shirt. “I can start the powerpoint in study hall, get some more notes, and do my slides. I’ll share it with you so you can do yours.”  
That was probably the closest they would get to a conversation, which was fine. He would do his part and Reiner will do his and it will all be over. Everything will be back to normal.

Bertholdt looks back to the blonde, who is lazily flipping back and forth between the same few pages of the book. “I could do the whole powerpoint if that would make it easier.”

 

Reiner sighs. “Bertholdt, I don’t want to make you do this whole project yourself, and I'm going to be honest, I know I’m not going to contribute much but I still want to help you.”

Even though he would never think of going over to Bertholdt’s for ANY reason. He feels like he should.

 

Bertholdt chuckles. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that.” Well, not really. He has had some partners that did their part fine, which have only been like two of them, while all the rest got to deal with his punishment. If he really wants to, he could tell Reiner his punishment so he would get into gear, but it was always fun to see their reaction when they find out what they have to do for not helping. “Okay,” he starts, moving himself forward so his arms were crossed on the desk, “what should we do?”

 

Reiner bites his lip. He feels weird asking to go over to the others house, even though they just met.

“Uh, Maybe we could meet up at your house and work on this over the weekend…” Reiner says hesitantly. Maybe he wont think its weird.

 

Reiner, Reiner Braun, just asked to come over to Bertholdt’s house to work on a project? A jock wants to go over to a punk’s house? According to the rules of high school cliques, this wasn’t suppose to happen. Everyone stays with their group at all times and never wander into others. That is unknown territory.

“I mean, if that works for you.” the brunet says, rubbing the back of his neck. If that was the only way it could work, then he guesses that’s what they’ll have to do. The project was already due in a week and their study halls were at separate times. They couldn’t do it after school since Reiner has football and Bertholdt was not in the mood for coming to school early just to work on it and Reiner wouldn’t be either.

 

Reiner immediately has the urge to explain himself. Even though it didn't seem Bertholdt was bothered, Reiner did it anyways,

“I mean, It's just that I can’t really concentrate here, and this project it due soon, and I'm usually busy after school and stuff… you know?”

 

Bertholdt nods in understanding. “Yeah, if it works for you. I’m not doing anything.” He honestly has no problem having Reiner come over to work on the project, but that probably meant more judgement from him. Not that he was really judging him on the piercing, but if he were to see his room, there will be a whole lot more questions.

 

Reiner still felt like this should have been more difficult. Nevertheless more weird. “Oh well, we’ll be working, so it won't be so bad.” He hopes.

“How about like Saturday and I can drive by around noonish and we can work on it for a while?” Reiner asks awkwardly.

 

“Yeah, that’s fine…” he says, looking down at his lap. He’s guessing Reiner has no idea where he lives, so does this mean he would have to exchange numbers or give him his address? What if he gave him his number and since they would never text or anything, Reiner would use him as a victim of prank calling or something?

 

Reiner realizes that he has no other way to contact his partner, so he has to awkwardly ask for his number.

Reiner leans closer to Bertholdt and smirks. “Looks like I’m going to need your number.” Reiner says with a wink at the end. Reiner hopes that Bertholdt gets that his charm is fake and that he's just joking and not being creepy.

 

Bertholdt notices the wink, but tries to pretend that it didn’t happen. “Uh, can I see your phone for a second?” he asks in a quiet voice so no one can over hear them.

 

Reiner keeps the smirk on his face while he pulls out his phone and hands it to him. “Here you go.” After the phone left his hand, he really hopes he doesn’t look at some of the random selfies he took that one day.

 

Bertholdt takes the phone and goes into his contacts and adds his number. When he's done, he hands the phone back. "There."

 

Reiner briefly glances down at the phones and smiles. “Cool, So I’ll text you later I guess...” The blond puts his phone in his pocket right as the bell rings.

 

Bertholdt nods and packs up his stuff and leaves. “Oh god, Reiner is coming over to my house.” he thinks. He almost sounds like one of the many girls who always hit on him, but he didn't want it to be that way.

 

At the end of the day it was Reiner’s turn to drive home. Him and Eren walk through the parking lot. Fellow teenagers get to their cars and eagerly drive home on this Thursday afternoon. They hop into Reiner’s car and turn on the music.

“Hey Reiner, ready for Friday?” Eren says as he throws his backpack into the back seat.

“Hell yeah I’m ready!” The blond says pulling out of the parking lot. This is the first time Maria High School is playing their rival team in football, so there has been quite a lot of hype.

“My mom said it would be okay if I threw a sort of, post game pasta party on Saturday. I know you will be there.” Eren says nudging the other.

Reiner’s eyes widen. Dammit! Why Saturday! Reiner thought angrily. A post pasta party seems much more fun than hanging at Bertholdt’s house working on some damn project. Why did it have to be this way! He can’t just leave Bertholdt for some party.

The blond sighs, “I can't…”

Eren looks at the other. “Why not!”

“Because… I'm busy.”

“Doing what?” Eren retorts.

Reiner sighs again. He's going to look so lame and boring saying that he is skipping a party to work on some project with some punk.

“I'm going to Bertholdt’s to work on my history project.”

“What!?” Eren exclaims “You would rather do that then have a post pasta party! Who the hell are you?”

“Eren! I already made plans I can’t just abandon them.”

“So what? Just ditch the emo kid!”

Reiner scrunches up his face. He honestly doesn’t even want to go to the party at this point. He makes it seem like they never hang out.

“Eren this is only happening this one time.”

This leads Eren to roll his eyes and cross his arms. “Fine…”

And with that, the rest of the car ride was quite.

 

"Come again?"

"Don't make me say it again."

"Reiner is coming over to your house this weekend? And you're fine with it?"

Bertholdt takes a deep breath as he pulls out of the parking lot. He knew this would make Annie pissed off more than anything. "Yes, we need to get that stupid history project done."

Annie crosses a leg over the other. "Why not do it after school or before?"

"One," he says, turning his head to look at her for a quick second before returning his eyes to the road, "I am not waking up early and coming here to do that. I bet he wouldn't be either since I'm guessing he gets here last second. Second, he's a football player, so he has practice."

Annie slouches in her seat and sighs. "That makes sense," she says, scratching at her nose ring, "but are you sure you're comfortable with it?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He asks, curious.

"Well," the blonde starts, "he's the complete opposite of you, today is the first time you've ever talked to him, and, hm, you've liked him for how long now? A year or so?"

Bertholdt almost slams on the brake in shock and sends a side glare to her. "It's not a crush," he mumbles, "it's aesthetic appreciation. There's nothing wrong with that."

Or at least that's what he always told himself. It was a crush at one point, but not anymore. He swears.

"Really?"

"Yes!"

Annie raises an eyebrow.

"I'm not going to deny that he's attractive, because he is. Besides, nothing will happen between us, and I'm okay with that. It'll pass once we graduate. I'll forget about him."

Minutes later, he pulls into Annie's driveway. "Just don't let it get to you. You've accepted that it won't happen, so you can't let it get the best of you." She tells him as she steps out of the car.

"Yeah yeah." Bertholdt shoos her off.

"I'm sorry it had to be that way."

"It's fine, seriously."

Annie nods and bites her lip before closing the door and going inside. Bertholdt would normally wait until she gets inside before leaving, but he didn't realize that he has been sitting there for a couple minutes longer when she comes out and knocks on his door window. "Not trying to be rude, but why are you still here?" She asks when he rolls down his window.

"I'm fucked."


	3. I guess you're okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, you're cooler than I thought.” 
> 
> “Thanks. You’re better than I was expecting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter so far and this is where the story really starts. There's a lot of dialogue and you get to learn quite a bit about Reiner and Bertholdt.
> 
> Enjoy!

Reiner checks the time off of his phone, which reads exactly 12:00. He’s been getting ready for the past hour or so. The scent of Axe fills the room as he sprayed some on him. He regrets doing this. Reiner is not mentally prepared to spend even an hour at Bertholdt’s house. It’s going to be so awkward. He never took in the consideration that Bertholdt would also have family, and that they would be alone together. In his room. The blond sighs as he grabs his keys from his dresser.

“Bye mom!” He yells as he heads towards the door. Unlike his friends, Reiner’s mom was totally fine with this whole plan. The blond got a lot of shit from his friends asking why did he choose Bertholdt over the party. Reiner had no idea why he did. It's not like he likes Bertholdt in that way. He didn’t even like him as a friend. They were simply acquaintances. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Reiner thought for the 100th time.

Reiner hops into his car and began driving to Bertholdt’s house. He got the address and knew exactly where he lived. Turns out he lives one house away from Eren. What a surprise! Once the blond turns down Bertholdt’s street, he was expecting to see an all black house with a dead lawn, but he found a nice two story house, with a well taken care of lawn. Reiner pulls into the others driveway, got out of his car, and walks over to the front door. He stands there for a moment then rings the doorbell. There was no turning back now.

 

Any minute now Reiner would be here. Bertholdt woke up that morning and knew that it was going to be a rough day. He already wanted it to be over and it wasn’t even noon.

He cleaned up random clutter that he had around his room, which was nothing compared to others, every couple minutes, straightening anything that may have seemed out of place. Reiner probably wouldn’t have minded, but it gave Bertholdt something to do so the anxiety wouldn’t take over his mind.

When his room was where he wanted it to be, for now, he makes his way downstairs into the living room. Currently, his dad was in his office, like usual, going through tons of papers for work and writing out emails. His mother went to run a few errands. His fourteen year old brother, Mason, was up in his room, but he shouldn’t really be an issue since that’s where he’ll stay the entire time. His main concern was his eleven year old sister Ally. Ever since she was little, she was always glued to Bertholdt, but now that she’s getting older, she’s starting to keep her distance. Whenever someone is over, like Annie, she won’t leave them alone. That Bertholdt knows, Ally doesn’t even know that Reiner is coming over, but when she does find out and see how opposite they are, she’ll have tons of questions that she won’t be afraid to ask. Reiner probably already didn’t want to be here and now he’ll have to deal with an eleven year old pestering him.

The punk chews on the skin next to his fingernails as he constantly checks the time on his phone. 11:58. Two minutes. A couple hours until he would go home and everything would be good. Just survive through the day.

Unless this turns into the stereotypical thing of them studying, starting a conversation, laughing, and then kissing. Bertholdt did not want that. He wants to forget about his somewhat crush. Ever since his conversation with Annie, he started to think about it again and realized that it could possibly be more than the aesthetic appreciation he always called it. He accepted that it would never ever happen, due to them being opposites, even though they attract, but also because Reiner was straight.

The ringing of the doorbell took him away from his thoughts and the anxiety grew. He was here. 12: 02. He stands up, straightens the pillow he was leaning on and dusts off imaginary dust from his pants, and walks over to the door. Taking a deep breath in, he hesitantly opens the door, taking a quick glance and sees Reiner, opening it wider. “H-hi.”

 

Reiner gives a brief smile when Bertholdt fully opens the door. “Hey…” After that Bertholdt lets Reiner inside. Their house was quite normal. It was clean and reminded him of a stereotypical home. Reiner untied his shoes and left them by the door. He felt very strange being here and Reiner had no idea what to say. After his shoes were off, he stood up at looks at Bertholdt, expecting him to know what to do next. 

 

“Are you hungry? Thirsty?” Bertholdt asks him, wanting to make him feel at home. This was just too weird, but he should be comfortable. He didn’t want to ask Reiner if they could work right away, but he wants him to get use to his surroundings.

 

Reiner looks around and rubs the back of his neck. “No, I'm good.” This was very weird. This was the first and last time he would be in this house, and he already wanted this visit to be over with.

 

Bertholdt nods and rocks back and forth on his heels. “Uh,” he said, looking down at his feet, “I guess we should get started then?”

 

Reiner bit his lip and nods. With that, Bertholdt motions the blond to follow him. The two make their way upstairs to what Reiner was assuming is Bertholdt’s bedroom. Once inside the room, Reiner’s eyes scan the walls which are covered in posters. A lot of band posters. He also notices a lot of CD’s, which the blond assumes is music. He also notices some paintings which might be Bertholdt’s. Reiner returns his attention to Bertholdt who is opening up his laptop.

 

Bertholdt can feel Reiner staring all around his room. He’s probably judging him for all of the bands posters and CD’s and paintings and drawings he has everywhere. He’ll probably tell everyone on the football team or maybe he’s taking pictures now so send to everyone on Snapchat or is putting it on his story. This was a bad idea.

Once the powerpoint was open, Bertholdt steps away from his laptop and looks at Reiner, who's standing there, arms crossed over his chest, and looking very uncomfortable.

 

Reiner makes eye contact with Bertholdt. Did he noticed him looking around his room? Maybe he was being rude just to look at everything like this. He isn’t judging, he was just… observing.

“Nice room…” The blond says awkwardly.

 

Bertholdt coughs. “Uh, thanks.” he mumbles. They stand there in awkward silence before Bertholdt speaks up. “I have the powerpoint open, by the way.”

 

“Oh uh… Okay.” Reiner says still standing there. He has no idea what to do, where to sit. Would it be weird to sit on his bed? Would they have to sit together close and work on the laptop? This is all a disaster. To make it worse, he still has no idea what the project is about exactly.

 

“You can sit at my desk or something.” Bertholdt tells him as he takes a couple steps backwards. Where would he go? Would he have to look over his shoulder to watch him at all times?

 

Reiner nods and walks over to the desk and sits on the swivel chair. He looks at the desk. Upon it are pens and pencils and random desk clutter. Reiner turns his chair and looks at Bertholdt.

 

Bertholdt makes his lips into a straight line as he stares back at him. Does he say anything? Does he need help? Is he judging him? What does he want?

“Is something wrong?” he asks.

 

Reiner blinks a few times. “No…” He says slowly. Wow, he made it so awkward that it makes it seem like he has a problem. Good going!

“Uhm, did you make those paintings?” Reiner asks making it seem like he’s fine.

 

Bertholdt looks around his room at the paintings Reiner’s talking about and a small smile forms. Those painting were something that he was proud of. “Yeah,” he says, sitting down on his bed, “I did.”

 

“Wow! They are really good!” Reiner says smiling. He didn’t know Bertholdt was artistic. He himself wasn’t good at art, but Bertholdt sure was. Reiner looks at the different paintings laying around. Sometimes, he wishes he was good at art.

 

Bertholdt smiles at the compliment. He doesn’t really get them that often due to the fact that he doesn’t really show anyone any of his artwork. Some of it is hanging around in school to show people, but they don’t really recognize his messy signature. “Thanks.”

 

Reiner looks over and notices some more artwork, ranging from small painting to sketches. Reiner didn’t really think Bertholdt does anything besides listen to music.

“I see some cool drawings too…” The blond remarks. 

 

A blush forms on Bertholdt’s face. This is too much. They had a project to work on. “Thanks. I don’t get a lot of compliments on my stuff.” Bertholdt watches as Reiner continues to look at his artwork.

 

“Well, I don’t see why not. It's really good.” Reiner says, returning his attention to Bertholdt. 

 

Bertholdt bites his bottom lip and nods. Okay, they need to get to work on this project. The sooner it’s done, the better. Reiner can leave and all they would have to worry about is making note cards and presenting and they can put this all behind them. Everything will go back to normal.

 

Reiner’s eye catches something oddly colorful despite the mostly dark posters. Above his bed is a small cloth rectangle thing that was striped. It sports the colors of pink, yellow and light blue. He wonders if it was a band thing… or maybe like a sport thing? What if he liked a sport? Maybe then they have something in common.

“Hey Bertholdt? What about that?” The blond says while pointing to the piece of cloth.

 

Bertholdt’s eyes lead to where Reiner is pointing and he freezes. Oh no. Oh no.

The brunet never had a problem with coming out to anyone, but he would only do it if he felt like it was necessary. Everyone that knows has been very accepting about it, but if he were to tell Reiner, he felt like it would be the first time he’s ever gotten anything negative about it.

“Oh, that,” he says, swallowing the lump in his throat. “You can do this. If he wants to leave, let him. Don’t let someone like that stay in your life.” he thinks.

“That’s the, uh, pansexual pride flag.” he finally says. No going back now.

 

“Pansexual?” Reiner says cocking his head. He thinks it may be a band thing, but he realizes that Bertholdt said 'pride', so it must mean something for sexuality.

 

“Pansexuality is someone who doesn’t have a preference for any gender. Whether they be non binary, trans, straight, asexual, bisexual, or homosexual. It sounds a lot like bisexual, but it’s different. It’s more of liking someone’s personality instead of their gender.” Bertholdt explains to him. He really hopes he would understand that, because that’s all it really is.

 

Reiner’s eyes widen. Bertholdt wasn’t straight. It's a sexuality thing! Reiner may be gay, but he didn’t really care for the whole pride and stuff. He just kinda knew he was gay and that was that. He hasn’t really experimented with anyone, he just kinda left it as it was. Even though he came out to his parents, he still hasn’t dared to date anyone. The blond also never dared to tell his friends. In the locker room, they constantly bash gays, so he didn’t want that to be put upon himself.

But even so, Bertholdt is the first guy he's met that wasn’t straight. Which sounds kinda ridiculous, but it’s true. Should he tell Bertholdt that he was gay? He decides not to so things aren't weird.

“Oh, wow! Cool!” Reiner says smiling.

 

Wait, what? Did...did Reiner, probably the most straightest guy to ever exist on the planet that seems like he would be an ass to anyone who wasn’t straight, react in a positive way? He thought it was cool? He thought it was cool!? People really don't lie when they say to never judge a book by its cover.

Bertholdt stares at him in shock for a few moments and then smiles.

 

“I've never met someone pansexual before… Or well, I've actually never met a guy that wasn’t.... well straight.” Reiner admits. He wonders if Bertholdt has a crush on him. Eh, probably not. Most people think he is straight anyways. He does know a few girls that have a crush on himself. Well, that sucks for them.

 

“Not a lot of people know about pansexuals.” Bertholdt admits while looking down. He hasn’t even met anyone pansexual himself. “Besides, if anything, our school is just a bunch of straight people or asexuals. No offense.”

 

Reiner starts chuckling, then starts to laugh. Straight people and asexuals was a very good way to put it. Well, maybe it's just Bertholdt and Reiner. The only two. I guess he found something they have in common.

“Non taken.” Reiner says calming down.

 

Bertholdt starts to laugh along with him. “I’m actually surprised that you would be understanding of that.”

 

“Of what?” Reiner asks.

 

“Well, you seem like you would be rude about that stuff since your friends are. I guess you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.”

 

Reiner chuckles. "I thought Bertholdt would be boring, or rude. Maybe disrespectful but he's not. Maybe I can know more" he thinks.

“There is a lot of stuff you don't know about me, babe.” The blond says, giving a smirk.

 

“I definitely know that you probably have no intentions of getting started on that powerpoint anytime soon.” Bertholdt says with a smirk.

 

Reiner blushes slightly. He was right. He is actually enjoying talking to Bertholdt. Either way, he wants to ditch the project and just get a F on it. It’s much easier to do that.

“No, talking to you is just so much fun!” Reiner says jokingly, but also in a serious way.

 

"Talking to me is fun?" Bertholdt asks seriously. The only people he really talks to is Annie, Armin, and Marco. Some other people are only occasionally, like Jean. He doesn't talk to anyone else unless he has to, so this is a huge surprise for him.

 

“Well, I mean… It's kinda interesting because you know… We are different.” Reiner says. 

 

"Yeah, I guess." Bertholdt agrees. He hasn’t really learned anything about Reiner. Actually, he's learned nothing at all.

"I don't know anything about you."

 

“Well… ask anything you have in mind, I guess.” Reiner tells him, glad that it isn’t so awkward anymore. 

 

Bertholdt looks down and licks his lips. "How was the game last night?"

 

Reiner smiles. He didn’t imagine Bertholdt to ask something like that. He found this quite amusing, and maybe a little cute.

“Well, we won sixteen to five. We totally crushed them!” Reiner says excitedly as he pumps his fist in the air.

 

"Wow, that's quite a gap." Bertholdt says, trying to sound somewhat interested. He didn't really care, but he would hear about it anyway. It isn’t like he didn't understand how sports work, but he's never been interested in them.

 

“Oh, yeah! That will shut them up for a while. They always talk so big about how good they are…. tch!” Reiner wonders if he actually was interested, but he doubts it. He likes that he’s trying, though.

 

Bertholdt nods. "Who were you playing against? Sina?"

 

Reiner nods back. “Yeah… are you actually interested in any of this stuff?” Reiner asks, raising an eyebrow.

 

Bertholdt stares at him and then shakes his head. "No."

 

Reiner chuckles. He was right. He knows his game.

“Dude, ask me something you are actually interested in knowing.” The blond says, crossing his arms

 

"We're such opposites. Who knows what we have in common." Bertholdt tells him.

 

Reiner shrugs. He has a point. He still found the other to be interesting.

“Yeah. I'm not interesting. I don't have cool piercings and artistic talents.” Reiner says, acting upset.

 

"Because having a tongue piercing and gauges makes me so much better."

 

Reiner shrugs. “It makes for a interesting conversation starter.” 

 

"Fair enough," Bertholdt says shrugging, "you'd never get one yourself?" He asks for the fun of it.

 

Reiner and his friends have always joked about getting dick piercings, but it would be best if Bertholdt didn’t know about that.

“No, not really.” Reiner tells him.

 

Bertholdt nods. "Am I making him uncomfortable? Does he think I’m weird for asking that? Does he think I’m weird in general?" he thinks.

He honestly wants to ask Reiner if they could at least put something on the powerpoint, but he was actually enjoying this. It was going in a different direction than he was expecting. Reiner wasn't all that bad.

 

Reiner starts chuckling. Okay, everyone thinks dick piercings are funny, but like, what if Bertholdt had one and he offended him? Ah, what the hell.

“Well, there is one piercing I might have to get.” 

 

"And what would that be?" The punk asks with his eyebrow raised.

 

Reiner starts chuckling again, trying his best to contain his laughter. Right before he talks, he puts on a straight face.

“I've considered a dick piercing."

 

Bertholdt stares at him for a few moments, the silence between them thick, before he bursts out laughing.

"A dick piercing?" He gets out between laughs. "I haven't even considered doing that myself." After laughing for a bit more, he finally calms down. "I'm sorry, I really am."

 

Reiner tries to act hurt, but then laughs himself.

“Thanks for respecting my choice.” Reiner says jokingly.

 

"It's a little far. Do you think you'd be able to handle the needle?" Bertholdt teases.

 

Reiner physically cringes. He wants nothing sharp or pointy down in that general area. It makes him wonder how Bertholdt got one on his tongue.

“Ew Bertholdt, you’re gross.” 

 

"It's the reality of piercings."

 

“How did you get the tongue one?” Reiner asks.

 

Bertholdt sits there and thinks for a moment. "Well, I was originally going to get my lip or septum, but I thought I should stick with something that I can hide in some way. It really wasn't that bad. They find the best place to put it and get a needle ready and then boom, it's done and over."

 

“Ew, I'm sorry, that just sounds brutal.” Reiner says, running his hand through his hair.

 

"It won't be as brutal as when I get my tattoo. That'll be worse. It's also not like I'm going to stop with just the tongue piercing." Bertholdt tells him.

 

Reiner eyes widen. “A tattoo?” Okay, this was something that sparked Reiner’s interest. Reiner was kinda a sucker for tattoos. He just likes how it makes guys look.

 

"Yeah, if you look next to my laptop, there's a drawing I made of what I want." When Reiner turns to look at the drawing, which was a feather that was falling apart with the pieces turning into small birds with the words "Just breathe." under it, he waits for Reiner to judge, which is something he hasn’t done this whole time.

 

Reiner looks in amazement. First off, the drawing was very cool, but Reiner couldn’t help to chuckle a bit on how cliche it was. He still thinks it looks cool.

“Where do you think you’re gonna put it?” Reiner asks.

 

"I’m gonna put the feather on my chest and the birds will go up my shoulder."

 

Reiner nods. He tries to imagine it on Bertholdt. He can’t help to think that it would look good on him. Reiner forces himself to stop thinking about that, but he can’t. He just likes tattoos, but he has just gotten to know Bertholdt. He brushes it aside and smiles at the other.

“That’s gonna look so cool!” He says.

 

"That's all I got for now." He says, standing up and stretching.

 

Reiner looks aside. “What does that mean?”

 

Bertholdt cracks a couple bones in his back and sighs. “I’ll probably get more tattoos and piercings eventually.”

 

Reiner furrows his brow. That seems pretty hardcore. Bertholdt is more hardcore than he thought, but was also not as hardcore. Well, at least this isn’t as awkward as he thought. He then realizes that they haven’t even touched the project. Oh well.

“Nice…” Reiner says slowly spinning in his chair.

 

“So,” Bertholdt says, clapping his hands together, “we have a project to do.”

 

Reiner tips his head back and groans. “Nooo!”

 

“It’s easier to get it out of the way.”

 

“I don’t want to!” Reiner complains.

 

“Complaining doesn’t help anything.”

 

“You don’t know that!” Reiner childishly says back.

 

“Is it solving anything now?”

 

“Yes, it's solving how much of a mom you’re being right now.” Reiner says, smirking up at the other.

 

Bertholdt shrugs. “Then stop being such a brat and do something.”

 

“Want to fight?” Reiner asks, making eye contact with the other.

 

“I’m good.”

 

“You better be.” 

 

Bertholdt rolls his eyes and walks over to his laptop.

 

Reiner sighs. He is honestly so content with just talking to Bertholdt. Reiner wonders if they are now friends, or can they call themselves friends. The blond is kinda happy about this. All of his current friends just talk about sports, hot girls, and just hit each other. Which of course, Reiner was okay with, but talking with Bertholdt is a nice change.

“Fine, if you want to end the fun.” Reiner says sitting up.

 

“Unless,” Bertholdt starts, a slight blush coming to his face and bites down on his bottom lip, “you want to talk more…”

 

Reiner smiles. “Yeah, definitely beats doing this stupid project.” Reiner accepts the fact that they aren’t going to get any shit done the moment they started talking.

 

“Alrighty,” the punk says, taking his seat back on his bed. He is actually fine not doing this and just talking. This is so new to him, so it is really nice to have something like this happen. Reiner is much better than he was expecting. “Are there any other questions?”

 

Reiner shrugs and looks around. The blond asks the most simple cliche questions.

“Uhm… What do you do for fun?”

 

“Wow, what an easy question,” he teases, watching as the blond in front of him rolls his eyes, “Uh, well, as you’ve seen, drawing or painting. I also like to write, read, go to concerts every once in awhile, and yeah.”

 

“Wow, so interesting.” This was definitely what Reiner wasn’t expecting. He just thought he listens to music and just… kinda exists. The jock crosses his arms. “Well, since I know you want to know about me, I'm just going to tell you what I do,” Reiner says with a smirk. This gets Bertholdt to roll his eyes and listen. “I like to workout, and play sports, chill with friends and play video games… play sports.”

 

“Wow, you are so exciting.”

 

“Yeah, getting all sweaty with the boys.” 

 

“Are you trying to tease me?”

 

“Maybe…”

 

“Fuck boy.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You heard me.”

 

Reiner rolls his eyes. Wow, him and the punk kid are really hitting it off. 

“Whatever.”

 

Bertholdt chuckles. Him and the king of fuck boys are really hitting it off. It makes him wonder what Annie will think when she hears this. To be honest, she will probably smack him upside the head, but it’s worth it.

 

Reiner puts his hands on top of his head.

“So… are we… friends now? Reiner asks hesitantly.

 

Bertholdt makes his lips into a straight line. They have been talking, this being the most they ever have, but that doesn’t automatically make them friends either. Bertholdt sees friends as someone he can tell anything to and they can make him laugh or feel safe or hang out with. He didn’t really feel that with Reiner, or at least not yet.

“I don’t know.” he says, being honest. He really doesn’t know.

 

Reiner rubs the back of his neck. Do I really want to be friends with him?

“Well, you're cooler than I thought.” Reiner says smiling.

 

“Thanks. You’re better than I was expecting.” Bertholdt smiles back.

 

Reiner laughs. Better than he was expecting. “You’re too kind.” Reiner says, chuckling,

 

“I know.”

 

Reiner sighs, letting out a yawn and stretches out in his chair, rubbing his stomach in the process.

“Where's the bathroom?” Reiner asks after he stands up.

 

“Down the hall, first door to your left. Right across from the stairs.”

 

Reiner nods, then leaves the room to the bathroom.

 

Bertholdt sighs the moment Reiner leaves the room. This really isn’t suppose to be happening. They aren’t suppose to be talking like they were best friends or even getting along. They’re suppose to stay away from each other.

But Bertholdt realizes that he wants to be closer.

If Bertholdt were to be serious, he feels the butterflies in his stomach grow stronger and his heart was racing. Whatever he was feeling for the blond is getting worse.  
But he can’t have him. He isn’t interested. The brunet has already been through this, telling himself that he needs to get over it because it won’t happen. They may say opposites attract, but it will never work for them.

He wants to get close, but not too close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bertholdt is going to be a little complicated throughout the story just a warning
> 
> If you want to know what his tattoo looks like, this is it. http://s3.amazonaws.com/ink_prod/photos/0242/7117/whatever_017_large.JPG


	4. It was nice while it lasted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh, I forgot to say, I have a dog.” Reiner states.
> 
> The brunet's eyes shine at the mention of a dog. "What kind?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter with a bunch of dialogue! Also, when you see ', those are thoughts. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Reiner turns on the sink to wash his hands and looks around at his surroundings. It’s like a normal bathroom, but he notices that there’s about five toothbrushes in the toothbrush holder next to the sink. Bertholdt must have some siblings. Reiner brushes it off and opens the door to go back to Bertholdt’s room. Instead of leaving the bathroom like he wanted, he’s stopped. There, his eyes met those of two smaller green ones. In front of him is a young girl with long brown hair. Her apparel is nothing but pink and bright happy colors, facial features almost exact to those of Bertholdt. “This must be his sister.” he thinks.  
The girl doesn't move, keeping her eyes on Reiner, her head only making it up to Reiner's chest.

“Uh… hi…” Reiner says, looking around for the nearest escape. The girl seemed to be at least eleven years old. The girl looks focused on Reiner and then she speaks.

“And who are you?”

Reiner’s eyes darted from side to side. “Uhm, my name is Reiner…” He states hesitantly. After he says that, the girl cocks her head to the side.

“Are you here to see my brother?” she asks.

“Uh, yeah, we’re working on a… project.” the blond explains. The girl raises her eyebrow and crosses her arms. 'What does she want from me?' Reiner thinks. The girl squints her eyes.

“I’m keeping my eyes on you…” The girl claims, then walks away and down the stairs.

Reiner blinks a few times, then slowly makes his way back to the room. Once back in the room safely, Reiner looks at Bertholdt from the doorway. “Do you have a sister, by any chance?” 

 

Bertholdt, who has now moved from his bed and to his desk chair, turns to look at the other. While Reiner was gone, Bertholdt decided to add some things to the powerpoint. “Yeah, I do. Her name is Ally.”

 

Reiner nods slowly and rubs the back of his neck. “Well, uh… I met her….”

 

Bertholdt’s eyes widen at the statement. “Was she holding anything weird?”

 

Reiner gives Bertholdt a confused look. “Uh… No? Why would she be?”

 

“Because she’s Ally and she is always up to something.”

 

“She won’t hurt me will she?” Reiner asks, closing the door behind him.

 

“No, she just a little,” Bertholdt tries to think of a good word to describe his sister, “different? I don’t know.”

 

“Different?” Reiner asks, cocking his head.

 

“Yeah, she’s just...Ally.”

 

“Well, she said she was keeping an eye on me…” Reiner states, walking over to Bertholdt’s bed so that he can sit down.

 

Bertholdt turns back around to look at his laptop and types something. “She always says that.”

 

“Oh, Okay…” Reiner says, standing up and going over to Bertholdt. He leans over Bertholdt’s shoulder so their heads are next to each other and looks at the progress Bertholdt has made so far.

 

Bertholdt stops what he’s doing and freezes.

 

Reiner reads everything over. The blond finds a typo and decides to fix it. He brings his left arm around Bertholdt’s left shoulder and puts his right hand on the mouse to fix the typo.

“There! That looks good.” Reiner says.

 

A blush starts to form on Bertholdt’s face as sweat starts to bead on his forehead. He has never been this close to Reiner. The arm around him was warm and Bertholdt could smell the strong scent of Axe radiating off of him.

“Uh,” he mumbles, “can you maybe, like, back away?”

 

“Oh shit, sorry!” Reiner exclaims, backing away with his hands up. He always forgot about others personal space.

 

Bertholdt looks back to his computer. “I’ll take the first couples slides and you’ll have the last ones. Okay?”

 

Reiner rubs the back of his neck. He felt as if he had violated Bertholdt’s space, even though he kind of did. He hoped he hadn’t upset him.

“Oh uh, okay.”

 

Bertholdt looks over his shoulder at Reiner and stares at him for a few moments. He seems embarrassed about something. It was cool to know these things because of psychology. “You okay?”

 

Reiner faintly blushes. “Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?” 

 

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

 

Reiner sighs. “Okay good…”

 

Bertholdt starts to type on his laptop again.

 

Reiner bites his lip and sits back on the bed. Everything started to feel awkward again. At this point, Reiner thinks it will be better if they just finish the powerpoint.

 

After a few minutes, Bertholdt turns back around to face Reiner. “My part’s done.”

 

Reiner nods as he and Bertholdt stand up and trade positions. Reiner begins to type what is off of the note sheet.

 

Bertholdt lays down on his bed and starts to scroll through random things on his phone.

 

After a few minutes, Reiner finishes his part of the powerpoint. “Done. The powerpoint is finally done.”

 

“Finally.” Bertholdt replies.

 

“Yup…” Reiner says, running his hand through his hair.

 

Bertholdt hums. “So, what now?”

 

Reiner shrugs. 'What do we do now?'

 

Bertholdt sits up and runs a hand through his hair. The only reason why Reiner came here in the first place so they could the project done. They could’ve gotten it done within an hour if they kept their mind to it, but it was now 2:27. Bertholdt didn’t want to tell Reiner to leave, but he also didn’t want to make him stay if he didn’t want to.

 

They could talk some more, but that wouldn’t get them very far. He doesn’t mind staying, though, but what could a jock like him and a punk like Bertholdt do for fun?

Reiner crosses his arms. “Well, if we can find something to do, I don’t mind hanging out here.” 

 

Bertholdt raises an eyebrow and looks at him. “You would honestly stay here?”

 

“I have nothing better to do.” Reiner says with a shrug. Although, he could go to the post pasta party, but they were probably almost done. There is no point in going to that.

 

“I don’t know what there would be to do…” Bertholdt tells him.

 

Reiner nods. “Yeah…”

 

Bertholdt sits on his with his legs crossed and starts to play with a loose thread on the end of his pants.

 

Reiner looks up at the other. “So, do you have another sibling?”

 

"Yeah, I have a brother too." Bertholdt replies, not looking up.

 

Reiner smiles. “Tell me about your siblings.”

 

"Well, Ally is actually very sweet, but what you saw of her is something I can't really explain. The only way I can explain it is Ally being Ally. My brother, Mason, is kind of like you. He's into sports and all of that. We don't really talk. We always use to get into arguments, still do, but it had gotten to the point that we've grown up and stopped talking. Not completely, but sometimes I forget that he's my brother. Not gonna lie about that."

 

Reiner chuckles. Bertholdt seemed to have a very quaint family. “Looks like this family is a bucket of fun.”

 

Bertholdt shrugs. "I don't know if I would say that," he looks up at Reiner, "what about you?"

 

“Well, I'm an only child so, nothing to my family.” 

 

"You're lucky."

 

“Eh, wouldn’t say lucky…”

 

"You don't have to worry about babysitting or anything. That's just being the oldest."

 

“At least you have someone to be with.”

 

Bertholdt guesses Reiner is right since he had no one to be with. "Yeah, that's true. Anything is better than to be alone."

 

Reiner gave Bertholdt a slight smile. “I bet Ally is fun.”

 

Bertholdt smiles. "She's is, but she's a handful. She really was when she was younger. I could never get her to leave me alone."

 

“Oh, really?” Reiner says

 

Bertholdt nods his head. "She use to drag me into a bunch of her troubles. It was hard for her to make friends, but I guess something happened when she got into middle school. So, after a bad day, she would stick around me."

 

“Awww,” Reiner says, smiling. “I can imagine you being a good brother.”

 

Bertholdt faintly blushes at the compliment and looks down to hide it. "T-thanks..."

 

Reiner chuckles. ‘Cute.’ Reiner thinks as he notices Bertholdt’s embarrassment. “So, where do you get your height from?”

 

"My dad."

 

Reiner nods. “I knew it had to be someone.”

 

Bertholdt nods. It was starting to get awkward again. 'What should I ask?' Bertholdt has no idea what to ask him since he thinks Reiner is all about sports since ball was his life. Not basketball, but football, but it's still a ball. "So, do you have German background? Your name is quite German."

 

Reiner raises an eyebrow at Bertholdt. It's something he's never been asked about before. “Yes, I am? How about you?”

 

"Yeah, my grandpa is half German." Bertholdt tells him. It was nice to see someone with a German name like himself.

 

“Cool…” Reiner says, crossing his arms.

 

Bertholdt hums.

 

“Oh, I forgot to say, I have a dog.” Reiner states.

 

The brunet's eyes shine at the mention of a dog. "What kind?"

 

“He’s a two year old golden lab.” 

 

"Name?"

 

“Bruno.”

 

"That's a good name."

 

Reiner chuckles. “He's very friendly, and loves to snuggle up to you.”

 

Bertholdt sighs. "Can I come over and see your dog?"

 

“Sure.”

 

"Thank you."

 

Reiner smiles. “He loves everyone.”

 

"It's always good to know a dog will love me." Bertholdt tells him. His love for dogs was out of this world and it sometimes even scared himself.

 

Reiner chuckles. “Yeah…”

 

The room goes silent. "Yeah, I really like dogs."

 

“I can tell.” Reiner says, spinning around and chuckling.

 

Bertholdt chuckles. "So, what else?"

 

Reiner hums and thinks. “Oh yeah, homecoming is just around the corner.”

 

Bertholdt shrugs. The only homecoming he's ever been to was his first one and he wasn't really a fan of all the grinding and twerking. The music was awful as well. He never went to any other school related dance that wasn't prom last year. It was junior prom, so he thought he may as well go to that. "Yeah."

 

“You going to go for your last year?” Reiner asks.

 

Bertholdt almost laughs out loud. "No."

 

“You're not?” Reiner asks, leaning forward.

 

Bertholdt shakes his head. "It's just a bunch of teenagers getting really close and humping while shitty music is playing."

 

Reiner laughs. It's true, but if he were to be honest, Reiner never really enjoyed all the grinding and junk, mostly because it was with girls. This was the year Reiner was really hoping he could find a real date to the dance, but that will probably never happen.

“You’re not wrong.”

 

"So, there's no point wasting my time on something like that."

 

Reiner raises his eyebrows at him. “Whatever you say.” Reiner thinks he can maybe drag Bertholdt's ass to the dance and watch him suffer. Reiner isn’t evil, but he knows Bertholdt will hate him for it. 

 

Bertholdt stretches. "I've been to one and that's enough."

 

“You were just with the wrong people.” Reiner says as he watches the other.

 

"The wrong people is everyone in school." the punk states.

 

“Come on, I could show you a good time.” Reiner says, winking.

 

Bertholdt rolls his eyes. "Thanks for the offer."

 

“Wow, the eye roll wasn’t needed.” The blond says, acting authoritatively.

 

"Deal with it."

 

“You’re such a sass master.” 

 

Bertholdt shrugs. "Oops."

 

Reiner huffs and rolls his eyes.

 

“Can’t help it.”

 

“Sassy pants. Did you get your sass from your sister?”

 

“She got it from me.”

 

Reiner laughs. “I should have guessed.”

 

The two talk for a while longer and the more they talk, the more Bertholdt feels much more comfortable. Reiner isn’t like all of his other friends, except the fact that he likes sports, but he is kind and trieds to get to know someone before judging.

Reiner didn’t leave until almost four, and while he was putting on his shoes, Bertholdt kindly asks him if he doesn’t say anything about his sexuality. He didn’t have a problem with people knowing, as long as who knew who. It should be him telling people, not someone else. Reiner kindly agrees, saying that he would never tell anyone, before saying goodbye to Bertholdt and leaving.

The punk makes his way back up to his room, going through what Reiner put and correcting a few mistakes, and sighs. Reaching for his phone on his nightstand, he goes to his messages and sends a text to Annie.

“I’m so fucked.”

 

The blond gets into his car and sits there for a few seconds. Reiner expected a much different outcome, but the one he had was great. Reiner liked Bertholdt, he wasn’t bad at all. He wouldn’t mind talking to him again.

Reiner puts his car into reverse and starts to back out of the driveway. He was glad he came over. Now, all they had to do was present the project and it would be over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ally will make more appearances, and yes, she's quite different. We have her all figured out.


	5. Feelings get stronger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Let's just get this over with."

Bertholdt taps his foot to the beat of his heart as he watches all the other presentations. He isn’t really listening since his nerves were taking over him at the moment, but he wants this to be done.

It has been a week since Reiner came over to his house and they’ve only talked a little more after that. The jock would send him a text, but since Bertholdt was never near his phone, he never replied to them. They talked the other day when they had to get with their partner one last time, but they didn’t talk for long.

If Bertholdt were to be honest, he couldn’t really see this turning into some sort of friendship. What happened over the weekend was the closest they would get and it wouldn’t surprise Bertholdt if that was the end. They only talked because of the project and because they both didn’t want to do it. He couldn’t see them hanging out in the future or sitting next to each other at lunch. Well, that one would never ever happen, but still.

 

Reiner sat at his desk, head propped up by his hand. These presentations were so boring. He just kept waiting till it was their turn. Sadly, Reiner hasn’t talked to Bertholdt, but he blames himself for that. Ever since they hung out, Reiner has been feeling different around the punk. Reiner catches himself staring every so often and feels as if he has butterflies in his stomach. Reiner worries that these feeling might be the start of a crush. He avoided talking to the punk because he didn’t know what to say. Approaching him was getting more difficult.

The blond has been noticing things about Bertholdt that he never did before. He noticed the soft features of the others face, his green eyes standing out the most. The jock also couldn’t help to notice how good Bertholdt’s butt looked in skinny jeans. There was just that something about his punk look that made Reiner’s stomach flip. He felt like Bertholdt was the bad boy and he was the schoolgirl, even though he doesn’t have the attitude of the bad boy. “I guess opposites do attract.” Reiner thought as he looks over to the other.

He watches Bertholdt tap his foot as he stares into space. Bertholdt’s sexuality didn’t help Reiner’s crush, either. Mostly because there was just that possibility that Bertholdt would like him back, but he doubted that would ever happen. He couldn’t help thinking what they would be like together.

 

He doesn’t understand why he can’t just let it go. It will never happen, no matter how much he fantasizes, wishes, or dreams, it can’t be. Reiner’s straight, that’s that. Whoever Reiner ends up with will be lucky to have someone so charming.

Bertholdt doesn’t really know why the crush grew so much. At first, it was aesthetic appreciation, because Reiner is very attractive, and that’s kind of all it really was. How can he not get nervous around someone attractive? Even though he’s shy and awkward in general, that’s besides the point. Now that he actually got to learn a little bit about him and see who he is, it grew and grew. It was a real crush.

 

Reiner drew his attention away from the brunet. He has had crushes before and from what he’s experiencing, he knew something was up.

The sound of students around him clapping brought Reiner back to reality, soon realizing that he was next. Reiner makes eye contact with Bertholdt, and sure enough, he is looking back at him. Reiner stands up, signaling that it is their turn. The two walk over to the computer to pull up their powerpoint.

“You ready for this, Bertholdt?” Reiner asks the other.

 

“I just want it done and over with.” Bertholdt mumbles, looking at the card that is in his hand and going to one side of the smartboard when their presentation is brought up. The first couple slides are the ones he made and he quickly goes through them and then it was Reiner’s turn.

 

Reiner goes through his with more action and noise, trying to keep the audience entertained. The blond easily wraps up the presentation and it’s over. 

 

Bertholdt lets out a silent sigh and goes back to his seat, zoning out all of the other presentations until the bell rings. It was over. Their project was finally over. He should be happy, and he kind of is, but will he talk to Reiner after this? Is this the official end of whatever they had?

Looking up from his doodling, he saw the time flew it there is one minute left of class. As usual, he gets his things together and was prepares himself for when the bell will ring, and when it does, he’s one of the first ones out.

 

Reiner packs up his stuff and while doing so, he notices something under the desk where Bertholdt was sitting. “He forgot his reading book!” Reiner thinks. The blond walked over and picks it up. He has to return this to him, so Reiner grabs his stuff and ventures out into the hallways. He somewhat knows where Bertholdt’s locker is, so he heads in that direction. His eyes scan the hallways until he sees a figure taller than anything else.

“Bertholdt! Hey, Bertholdt!” Reiner yells out to the other as he walks up to him.

 

Bertholdt freezes at the loud voice calling his name. He slowly turns to see the blond in front of him and can feel people’s stare on them. Opposites are talking. This isn’t suppose to be happening.

“Uh,” he starts, swallowing the lump in his throat, “Hi, Reiner.”

 

Reiner holds the book out in front of him. “Hey dude, you forgot your book.”

 

Bertholdt nods and takes the book from his hand. “Thanks.”

 

Reiner rubs the back of his neck. “I-Is that a good book?” Reiner asks only trying to start some small talk.

 

Bertholdt shrugs and puts it in his locker. "Yeah, it's good."

 

Reiner chuckles. “I see that it has 666 pages.”

 

The brunet stares at him for a few moments, waiting for Reiner to continue.

 

Reiner crosses his arms. “Seems like something you would read.”

 

“Why do you say that?”

 

“Because that book is the devil.”

 

Bertholdt takes a few more things out of his locker and shuts it. "Thanks."

 

Reiner smiles.“I’m kidding, don’t worry.”

 

Bertholdt nods. "I'm sorry, but I gotta get going. See ya."

 

Reiner sighs. “Yeah, I guess. Uh, bye.” the blond replies, giving a small wave.

 

Bertholdt walks off in the opposite direction to head to his next class.

 

Reiner sighs once more and turns to go to his own locker. “Well Braun, you're fucked.” the blond mumbles to himself as he opens his locker. He gathers his stuff and heads to his next class.

 

When lunch comes around, Bertholdt sits in his usual spot next to Annie in the hallway.

"How'd your presentation go?"

"Fine."

Annie nods and opens her small bag of chips. "So, what's going on between you two now?"

Bertholdt sighs and shrugs. "I don't know, that may be it for us."

The blonde chews her chip and swallows. "Well, you two did seem to talk for quite a while he was there."

The brunet takes a bite of his sandwich. "We did. There's not a lot of things in common between us. With my feelings getting stronger and knowing it's not going to happen, I should avoid to get over."

Annie nods and starts to play around on her phone. "You can't run away from all your problems."

 

Reiner stares off into space while his friends talk loudly around him. Reiner can’t stop thinking about Bertholdt. He kept thinking he doesn’t have a stupid crush and that it is just a short thing, but he’s beginning to realize it was much more.

“Hey, stupid!”

Reiner blinks a few times and looks to his right. He sees Mina staring at him. “Did you say something?”

“Yeah, why are you so out of it?” Mina says, arms crossed.

Reiner shrugs. “We can talk later.”

Mina was Reiner’s only friend who knew about his sexuality. Sometimes when they are out in public, Mina would spot some cute boys for the blond, but they usually keep things quiet. 

Mina gives a slight smirk. “Well, alright.”

After lunch, the two leave the table early to go stand by their lockers. Once they get there, Mina crosses her arms and looks at the blond. “Alright, what’s up?”

Reiner bites his lip. “I think… I have a crush.”

The pigtailed girl’s eyes widen. “Who?”

Reiner looks at the floor. “Bertholdt... “ 

Mina’s mouth gapes open. The main reason Reiner wants to talk to Mina about this is because she was a master at dealing with crushes. She is good with creating relationships and she is also good with ending crushes. Reiner wasn’t so sure which one he wants, but talking to her is a start.

“I should have guessed, you have always been a sucker for bad boys.”

Reiner runs his hand through his hair. “Shut up.”

“Well, he’s not the worst looking, but this one is a hard one. I'm not sure of his sexuality or if he likes you back. I'm going to have to do some inside work for you, bud.”

“Mina, don’t get ahead of yourself. I'm just telling you that there might be something going on here.”

Mina huffs. “Well, you know who to talk to.”

Reiner nods as the two get ready for their next class.

 

Bertholdt can't get himself to concentrate in any other classes. Did the blond have to take over his mind this much? When he is driving Annie home, she notices how he seems a little out of it, but decides not to push the topic.

As soon as he gets home, he goes straight to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. "It won't happen, you need to get over him." He says repeatedly as he stares at his reflection.  
It isn't suppose to be like this. Just talking to him once made him almost giggle like a schoolgirl. He hasn't freaked out over a guy like this since his sophomore year and to make it better, he was from a different school and something did happen between them, but Bertholdt didn't like to think about that a lot. It was in the past. Nothing to do about it.

He makes his way into his room to start on homework, but the blond intrudes his thoughts once again.

 

Reiner scrolls down on his mouse wheel. Reiner usually wasn't the type to Facebook stalk, but he just wants to know more about Bertholdt. Reiner could have guessed that there are almost no pictures or interests showing up. His Facebook is untouched.

Reiner logs off and lays on his bed, trying to think about his crush and how it would be if they were together. The blond can’t help but smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're curious, the book Bertholdt is reading is Impulse by Ellen Hopkins!

**Author's Note:**

> We hope you like the first chapter!
> 
> You can check us out here on our tumblrs!  
> sydney-yooo.tumblr.com and xxrandoxx.tumblr.com


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